North Allegheny School District

 

In the spring of 2015 TAC made the following recommendations to the North Allegheny School Board Directors:

1. Create an equitable technology environment for all students and teachers.
2. Adopt a 1:1 environment in Grades 1-12, supplemented with specialty computer labs and shared mobile devices as necessary.
3. Expand staffing appropriately to support success.

These recommendations have been the guiding principles of FOCUS 2020.  Overall, the plan is to provide more resources in the classrooms and to create more opportunities for students to learn. Our teachers will continue to lead instruction; however, the District is updating and changing the tools available. Students and teachers are actively learning together. The technology allows learning to become personalized, and it encourages collaboration and creation along with thinking abstractly, reasoning critically, solving problems, and discerning relationships.

 

A goal of FOCUS 2020 is to expand opportunities for North Allegheny teachers and students so that they experience rich, deep, engaging, and meaningful learning experiences. In January 2017, North Allegheny Middle School students, under the guidance of Mr. Michael Bockoven, created a video for their teachers in which students share their views of FOCUS 2020 and the difference it has made in the learning process. You are invited to hear from our students in their own words.

 

 

Throughout the school year many different instruments (e.g. surveys, classroom observations, focus groups with teacher and students, classroom walkthroughs, usage data logs) have been used to collect data to assess and evaluate the progress of FOCUS 2020. This data will continue to be regularly analyzed to monitor the effectiveness of implementation and progress toward the goals of this exciting initiative.

 

The following areas have been examined to assess the effectiveness of FOCUS 2020: